Toad's evolution
by Crystalas
Summary: After a nasty inccident with some Power8 Toad begins to feel unwell, things only get worse when he starts changing as well...what the hell happening to him? my first Xmen Evolution fic be nice X3
1. another day another bruise

Oh my god I'm writing a fic AND IT AIN'T ABOUT JACK SPICER!!

Toad has to be my fav character next to jack they're both under dogs and are great for angst stories!!

So here's my first story on Toad sorry if I get some facts wrong I haven't seen the show for like over a year!! I've been trying to find someone to do this for me but I'm going to do one myself! The story is that Toad is feeling a bit sick but it gets worse and worse and he doesn't know what's happening…

**Chapter one: another day another bruise…**

Mystique was gone and the brotherhood was short on both cash and food, and having people like Fred or 'Blob' and Pietro or 'Quicksilver' wasn't good either; one was a mountain of a person the other had a blooming fast metabolism. So the Brotherhood made an agreement the food would be shared equally but to make sure everyone else got big enough rations Toad had to either get his own or eat bugs. The logic behind this was Toad was small and could catch his own dinner while the others couldn't.

Thus this is why we find Toad in a dumpster looking for his tea, he grumbled as he did and every now an again an empty can would be tossed out and clatter to the floor.

"You can catch ya own dinner!" he grumbled as he mimicked what Lance had told him, "you like this sort of thing!" he then growled and threw out another empty can after an unfruitful search.

"Dude just cos I can doesn't mean I wanna!" he yelled to no one in particular "When I came to this group I was promised three square meals a day and a roof over my head yo'!" he then looked into a greasy box and then tossed it over his shoulder.

"Times like this I think I was better off on the streets!" he hopped out of the dumpster and peeled a manky black banana peel off his shoulder. "Next stop Bayville High yo; maybe they have some good eats!"

And indeed he did, his quest to find a tea resulted in an half empty bag of chips and a half-eaten burger, which was nicely finished off with a couple of flies and a cockroach he found in the bin with the burger. He took his goods and crouched on top of a bin in the alleyway eating his tea.

Just then Duncan and his cronies walked past and he looked as he saw a whole sandwich and a donut poking out of one their bags, he licked his lips and crept closer.

He snap out his tongue and grabbed the donut and savoured the taste of fresh food in his mouth, however it didn't last long because Duncan saw Toad steal the donut and had slammed him into the wall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing freak?" he snarled.

"Sorry a guys gotta eat!" Toad said "And it's not like you need it!" one of Duncan friends grinned darkly and rummaged in his bag to bring out a bottle.

"Hey Duncan I got an idea, one of my friends from outta town told me this stuff was like poison to mutant scum like him, wanna see if he shrivels up or something?"

"Power8? Didn't they take that off the shelves?" another asked.

"Yeah but my mate bought a whole crate before it was taken away, he gave me some!" he popped off the cap and Duncan and his friends pinned Toad to the wall and forced his mouth open.

"Hey what the heck do ya think ya doing…yuk!" he said as he forced fed the stuff, one of them shoved his hand over Toad's mouth and nose so he had no choice but to swallow it. He gasped and kicked them away before they can give another dose, just before he got away Duncan poured the rest over Toad's head and laughed as he coughed and spluttered.

"Yeah pesticide on the pest!" he laughed as Toad belted down the street.

Toad ran home half expecting himself to keel over any minute, he ran in and slammed the door shut panting. Lance walked in and looked at him in a mix of shock and disgust.

"Toad what the hell happened to you?"

"Duncan happened yo!" Toad wheezed he looked up worried "Hey Lance whadda know about this Power8 stuff?"

"Isn't that drink that came off the line?"

"Yeah do ya know why?"

"No…wait why do you want to know?"

"Cos I was just force fed the stuff and doused in it, they said Power8 was like poison to mutants!" Pietro stuck his head in and laughed as the soggy sight of Toad.

"Dude you looked drenched!"

"Hey Pietro isn't the Power8 stuff off the shelves?" Lance asked.

"Yeah why?"

"Toad was a guinea pig for Duncan and his cronies he said they force fed him the stuff" Lance explained. Pietro mocked a shocked face and then sped to Toad's side.

"Oh no! You drank it? Quick Lance get a shoe box and umbrella he might explode at any minute!"

"WHAT!" Toad yelped "This stuff can make me explode?!"

"Didn't you hear what happened to Evans? He drank that stuff and now he's living with the Morlocks cos he's stuck in permanent porcupine mode!" he laughed as he walked away "God knows what's gonna happened to someone like you!" Lance punched him on the shoulder.

"Knock it off you're scaring him!" Lance growled he looked to see Toad hugging himself and was trembling and shaking as he stared at the floor. "Hey don't worry about it; if something was going to happen to you it would have happened by now right?"

"Y…yeah you're right" he muttered and then Lance patted him the back.

"There you see? Best get cleaned up though okay?" he smiled and Toad nodded and went upstairs.

Toad stood in the shower feeling the relief as the sticky substance was washed away, he washed his hair and then got out he looked at the steamed mirror and rubbed his clean…his eyes looked weird they were dark and blood red…he rubbed his face and then looked again to see they were normal slime coloured again. He shook his head and got ready for bed, as he did he saw his arms were bruised and neck looked sore. He touched the bruises tenderly and sighed.

"Another day…another bruise on the Toad"

He went to his room which was a mess and he clambered into his hammock that hung in between the four poster bed, he smiled as he remembered why he got it.

_Flash back_

As a kid off the street he wasn't used to having a soft bed and he found it hard to sleep on, Fred had came in one night and saw Toad curling up on his blanket in the corner of the floor getting ready to sleep.

"Why ya doing that?" he had asked "You got a perfectly good bed"

"Yeah but I ain't used to it yo, I've been sleeping on the streets as long as I can remember, a soft bed like that…I don't know…don't feel right" he explained, Fred smiled and tore off the bed sheet on the mattress and tied one end to the bottom left pole of the bed and the other or the top right so it hung above the mattress.

"My dad showed me how to do this at the motor fest I used to work in" Fred said as Toad watched, he hopped over it and looked at it. Fred then grabbed him and plonked him in it, he snuggled in and smiled.

"Not to hard…not to soft…neat!" he had grinned but froze when Fred went to get his blanket.

"No wait I'll…" he cried but it was too late when Fred had lifted it up and an old tattered plush frog toy plopped out and Toad went red in shame. Fred picked it up and looked at it.

"This yours?" he asked.

"Yeah…go ahead, mock at will" he said sadly but Fred smiled and handed it to him.

"What's wrong with having a comfort toy? Everyone needs something for comfort" he said "I used to have a blanket but I out-grew it"

"You didn't need it anymore?"

"Nah I out-grew it now it's like a hanky compared to me" he said and took out a small light blue cloth of his pocket and showed him "see?"

"I won't tell if you won't" Toad laughed.

"Deal!"

_Back to present_

Toad smiled and leapt into it, fishing out his frog toy from the top of the poster bed and hugged it as he settled back into bed, he shivered and what Pietro said caught up with him.

"_Didn't you hear what happened to Evans? He drank that stuff and now he's living with the Morlocks cos he's stuck in permanent porcupine mode!" he laughed as he walked away "God knows what's gonna happened to someone like you!"_

What was going to happen to him? He wondered he suddenly felt cold and shivered as he snuggled deeper into his blanket.


	2. Toad melts a toilet

**Chapter 2: Toad melts a toilet…**

It was a couple of days later and the 'mutant poison' thing was practically forgotten and The Brotherhood were heading off to the school, Toad tagging along slowly behind.

"What's keeping you slow-toad?" Pietro demanded glancing back; Toad shivered and hugged his stomach.

"Mah guts killing me yo" he muttered and shivered "I don't feel too good"

"Don't worry Toad a good breakfast and you'll feel good as new" Fred smiled "Tell ya what you can have some of mine"

"No thanks yo, I'm not hungry" he mumbled and wandered off to class.

Toad's first class was history which always bored him to death, his stomach pains had eased off but his mind was else where. Kurt watched him from afar after noticing that even though there was practically a full wallet hanging in front of him and Toad didn't notice it. The teacher was rambling and reading from a thick textbook about Richard-something-or-other and Toad grimaced and winced as a sudden wave of nausea crashed into him and the pain rose up like lava from a volcano. He gripped his table and his whole body was trembling as sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Todd? Is there a problem?" The teacher asked looking at him.

"Oh god I think I'm gonna heave!" He mumbled as he bent over, he felt bile rise up in his throat and he pelted out of the class, Kurt watched and then raised his hand.

"Should I go make sure he's okay sir?" he asked.

"Yes…err…be sure to escort him to the nurse's office once he's done" the teacher said handing him the hall pass.

Kurt ran out and looked down the hall to see Toad run into the boy's bathroom, he walked up and heard loud gagging noises followed by a sickening splatter.

"Toad? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Do I sound okay?" came an angry whimper followed by more gagging, Kurt knocked on the stall door.

"Let me in and help" he said.

"N…n…no that's okay I'm cool" Toad groaned.

"Excuse me if I don't believe you Toad" Kurt said with sarcasm dripping from his voice, he teleported himself to be perched onto of the stall "Toad!" he cried.

Toad was curled up on the floor and there was vomit and slime all over the toilet and floor, Toad was trembling as he got up with his hand over his mouth. Kurt had the misfortune to watch as Toad vomited again, but looked in horror as the vomit was streaked with blood.

"Okay needless to say Toad you need help" Kurt said jumping down and helping him up, Toad felt so light and weak he was shivering from the shock.

"Let's get you cleaned up" Kurt said gently "Then we'll find your friends"

Kurt looked back when he heard a slurping creek, there was a crash and the toilet collapsed in a hissing and steaming mess. The toilet was melting where the vomit had hit it! Water splashed onto the floor but the gunk was jamming up the water pipe so the toilet didn't flood the bathroom.

"Toad…since when can you spew acid?" he whimpered.

"I…I don't think I can…why?" he mumbled and looked up to see the remains "I melted a toilet!?" he shrieked "Yo' even on my good days I can't puke up acid!"

"Look this is obviously a mutant matter maybe you should see the professor?" Kurt offered and Toad staggered away.

"No need nightcreeper I'm good, maybe I just needed to get that out of my system"

"Toad…you melted a toilet!" Kurt said slowly "And you think that's okay?"

"No…but…look I ain't going to no hospital I hate doctors" Toad said and walked out grabbing a few paper towels as he did to clean himself up with. "I'm okay now…really!"

"Okay Todd…but if you ever need any help…"

"Yeah right like you'll guys will willingly help a slime ball like me" he laughed coldly "I'm gonna have a nap then I'll be back to class okay?" and with that he hopped out the window…

Toad leapt into his usual tree that he slept in and nodded off quickly, he was dozing quietly even when the bell rang to signal lunch time, Lance and Fred came out and looked up to see a unmistakable foot hanging out of the tree as Toad lounged on the branch.

"Toad? Toad wake up" Lance called.

"Nah that's not how you wake him, this is how!" Fred grinned and smacked the tree and a screaming Toad fell out and landed flat on his face.

"Why did you wake me up yo?" he grumbled and rubbed his sore nose.

"Is what Kitty told me true?" Lance asked.

"What?"

"She told me that Kurt saw you melting a toilet…after you puked in it!"

"Yeah I was gonna tell you that…"

"Toad…I've known you for ages but I've never known you for spewing acid" Fred said "I haveta admit it sounds kinda cool but it sounds really creepy as well"

"Look I felt a bit off and I puked…what's wrong with that?"

"You melted a fucking toilet!" Lance screamed "just by being sick in it!"

"Ya talking to a guy whose mutant power is to vomit up slime and stuff and you sound surprised that I did that…hey for all I know maybe it's a new power for me!" Toad said "Acid slime…actually that sounds cool I wonder if I can do it again after school" he mused.

"Oh no you're not!" Lance said "God knows what puking acid will do to you and the house…no vomiting acid!" Lance declared sternly Toad looked at him angrily and then glanced away.

"Fine…but I'm bunking the rest of the day yo, I don't want the X-geeks looking around for the guy who melted a toilet, the fuzzy guy already knows there's something up" he exclaimed and with that hopped away.

Toad got home and slumped on the sofa grabbing the remote as he did flicking it he came across a horror film, it was one of those cheesy black and white films but Toad liked the classics.

"Coo the thing from the swamp…kinda like me!" he beamed and watched it snapping up flies that buzzed past as he did. He absently minded scratched his hands as he did because as the movie progressed his hands felt numb and really itchy. At the end of the movie Toad stretched up and scratched behind his ear only to yelp as he felt something pierce his skin, he looked at his hand…and screamed.

Normally his hands were partially webbed and the webbing would stop quarter way up his fingers, but now the webbing stopped at his fingernails which were now sharp. He looked at his trembling hands.

"Okay…okay…I…err…oh man there's gotta be a reason for this…" he stopped when he remembered what Pietro said.

He had said that Evans had drank power8 and had turned into a monster… was that what was happening to him?

He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly shivering with fear.

"Oh God what's happening to me?"


	3. freakin' out

**Chapter 3: freaking' out**

"Toad we're home!" Fred called out as Lance, Pietro and Fred came home "Ya feeling any better?" Toad didn't reply, Pietro zipped through the kitchen and living room and then zipped back to Lance.

"Nope…maybe he's upstairs?"

"This is weird, Toad usually glomps people at the door when he answers it" Lance said "Hope he's okay…"

"Nah the little twerp probably fell asleep in his room or something" Pietro laughed "Com'on! First one to get there gets to flip him out of his bed!"

The door was locked and there was no reply, Fred knocked on it.

"Hey Toad ya in there?" Fred called, they heard something shuffle and move in the room.

"Toad stop being a spaz and let us in, Lance and Blob are getting their pants in a knot worrying about you!" Pietro called.

"Sorry…I'm fine…I…I…just sleepy" Toad mumbled.

"Come on Toad let us in we just want to see if you're okay" Fred said gently.

"NO!" Toad yelped "I…I mean…err…I'm fine really" he groaned and suddenly there was a thump as something solid crumpled to the floor. Fred had had enough and bashed the door down, Toad was curled up in the corner of the room trembling he had wrapped himself up in his blanket and was trying to get up.

"Toad…what's the matter?" Lance asked nervously he knelt down to get him and Toad jerked away.

"Please…d…don't touch me" he whimpered but Lance reached forward and put his hand on his forehead, it was hot and clammy with sweat.

"Dude you're burning up, come on let's get you into bed and outta that quilt" Lance said Toad wiggled away clutching the blanket to himself.

"No…" he whimpered.

"Com'on ya pest let us help" Fred offered.

"Ya can't help yo!" Toad cried "Not unless you know how to stop me changin'"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Lance demanded.

"Pietro was right…that stuff is turning me into a monster" Toad whimpered and then buried his head in the blanket "I'm scared" he wept and began to sob.

"Aww please Toad you know I was just pulling your leg!" Pietro laughed and reached forward "Now stop being a prick and…"

"Don't touch me!" Toad howled and tried to leap away, but Pietro had grabbed his blanket and it came away from Toad's body as he fell to the floor. The others stopped and stared at Toad's hands.

"Todd…" Lance gasped "W…what?"

"I don't wanna be a monster!" Toad cried and covered his face with his arms and curled up on the floor as he wept. Fred knelt down next to him and pulled him up to sitting.

"Okay…when did this happen?" Lance asked gently, he could see that Toad was obviously freaked by this and he was trying his best not to scare him any more.

"After I came home from school" Toad whispered "What's happening to me yo? This is freaky even for me!"

"I don't know but we're going to get help" Lance assured and Pietro laughed coldly.

"How? We can't exactly take him to a hospital can we? What if people get the idea that this is a disease or something? People will wig out even more!" he shrieked.

"We gotta do something!" Fred cried "I've never seen him like this!"

"Oh man everything hurts" Toad moaned closing his eyes "I feel like my insides are on fire" Toad went limp and Fred shook him.

"Toad don't go to sleep man try and stay awake"

"It really hurts…" he whispered and then past out.

"We've got to get him to the Institute" Lance declared "They're the only people who have any idea how to treat mutants"

"They're our enemy!" Pietro shouted.

"I don't care! We're one Toad down and I doubt any of us have a clue what's happening to him but I'll wager my jeep they at least have some idea of a cure" Lance exclaimed sternly "Fred get Todd in the jeep and cover him up, we don't want anyone seeing him" he demanded and Fred picked Toad up gently picking up his blanket as he did, Lance then looked at Pietro as if asking what he was going to do to help.

"Well I'm coming too, if he dies who else will hold up the aerial?"

Kitty was walking through to the main living room when she heard car tyres screech and churn up the gravel, she stared out the window to see Lance's jeep do a sudden brake and swerve to a stop. Lance leapt out of the car and began to bang on the door.

"Lance what the heck…?" Kitty demanded when she opened the door.

"You've got to help, get the professor!" Lance cried.

"Whoa back up like what's going on?" she asked staring at Lance who looked really worried.

"It's Toad…I…I don't know I think he's dying" he stammered and Kitty looked over his shoulder to see Fred lift up a extremly ill looking Toadout of the jeep. "We were bringing him here and then suddenly he started to freak on us, shaking and coughing up blood and everything!"

"I'll get help" Kitty cried and ran off but the Professor and Hank Mcoy was already running up.

"Bring him through here hurry!" Xaviar declared, Fred rested Toad down on the medical bed and they began to work. The others could only stand back and listen and watch.

"Blood pressure through the roof, his temperture rising…his heart going rapid" Hank said holding Toad down and connecting him to machines, Toad suddenly went horribly limp.

"Prof is he gonna be alright?" Lance said.

"We'll have to see, can you tell what happened?" Xaviar said.

"he said Duncan made him swallow some Power8 stuff but that happened days ago" Fred explained.

"We'll have to do blood tests to make sure, are you sure there's nothing else? Has he eaten anything unusual?" Hank said.

"You're talking about a guy who eats bugs!" Pietro declared "Define 'unusual'?"

"Good point…" suddenly one of the machines started to beep urgently and Xaviar looked back. "I think it's best if you wait outside, Kitty will show you where you can sit down" as they walked out Fred looked back at Toad.

"Try and live through this buddy" he whispered.

It had been an hour and a half and three cold untouched mugs of tea sat on a table in front of the remaining Brotherhood, Lance sat leaning forward staring at the floor, Fred sat next to him fiddling with his little blue hankie-chief and Pietro was pacing back and forth in front of them.

Scott and Jean came home from school and walked past the three before stopping and doing a re-take of what they saw. They spun around and stared.

"What the hell are you three stooges doing here?" Scott growled Lance glanced at him and then went back to staring at the floor.

"Don't bother Summers we ain't here to fight" he mumbled.

"Oh?" Scott demanded "Why's that?"

"If you haven't notice Cyclops we're one Brotherhood member short and he's in there dying for all we know!" Pietro exclaimed jerking a thumb towards the door behind them.

"What?" Jean muttered and looked around "You mean Toad? Why what happened?"

"Your old boyfriend happened! He grabbed Todd and force fed him some Power8 and now it's done something to him" Fred said numbly.

Just then hank came through with a clipboard in his hands, Lance and Fred leapt up and looked at him.

"Well…he's stable for the moment and right now he's awake you can go see him in a minute" he said.

"So what's wrong with him?" Fred asked.

"That we don't know we're going to do blood tests but I need to extract some blood" Hank said "I'm going to need your help with that"

"Why?" Lance asked.

"Toad scared of needles he freaks just by seeing one" Fred muttered as they went in Toad was lying in the bed looking frightened as he watched them come in.

"Hey Toad, listen the doc needs to get some blood for tests and for that he needs to use a needle…you okay with that?" Lance said gently, Toad shook his head.

"How about this, just look away while he does it okay?" Toad looked at him and then hugged his pillow, Hank injected the needle and Toad flinched burying his head into the pillow. Within minutes dark red liquid filled the syringe and Hank took it out.

"There that didn't hurt did it?" he said gently, Toad didn't say anything.

"Toad?" Fred asked.

"I don't wanna turn into a monster" came the muffled whimper from the pillow, Fred pat him on the back softly.

"No one is saying that" he said "hey for all we know this might be a part of your mutation or something"

"Well whatever it is Todd will have to stay here for a while for observation" Xaviar explained, Toad stared at him.

"What! On my own!" he yelped.

"If you like one of you could stay here with him for support" Hank offered and Fred held up his hand.

"I will"

"Why you?" Pietro demanded.

"Think about these guys don't trusts us as it is, Toad needs us and I'm the one least likely to be found sneaking around the mansion" Fred explained "I'll stay here and you two go home in case Magento or someone comes"

"Wow good thinking Blob" Peitro declared.

"hey I have my moments" Fred smiled.

With that Lance and Pietro left on the promise they'd be back in the morning to check up, as soon as they left Toad looked at Fred as he laid back on the chair next to the bed.

"Thanks" Toad whispered.

"Bed too soft for you?" Fred chuckled.

"Nah can barely feel anything…it's like y'know…everything is distant" he muttered.

"Hey Toad you see any bright lights at the end of any tunnels you stay the hell away from em kapeesh?" Fred demanded sternly and Toad chuckled weakly.

"Besides I bought you something" Fred said reaching into his pocket "Don't worry I didn't let Pietro or Lance see him" he assured and with that pulled out Toad's tattered old plush frog, Toad took him and held him close.

"You look like you need all the comfort you can get"

"Thanks blob for being here an' all" Toad mumbled and with that fell asleep, Fred watched him silently into the early hours before he too succume to sleep.


	4. what the?

**Chapter 4: what the…?? **

Lance came down from his room to see Pietro all ready to go, by the looks of it he hadn't slept a wink. Pietro looked at him and then got up.

"You coming?" he said. "I want to get this over with"

"yeah I'm worried about him too" Lance muttered and grabbed his keys "come on then, our little paitent is probably wondering where we are!"

When they got there they were greeted by an angry Scott.

"Nice plan but I think you blew it" he growled.

"Excuse me?" Lance asked.

"Your so called 'dying' friend attacked Mr Mcoy and trashed the medical bay!" Scott explained, Lance and Pietro rushed past him to the medical bay to find Hank shaking his head and wiping slime off his coat. The floor, wall and even the ceiling was coated in green slime everything was dripping with the stuff.

"Where's Fred?" Pietro demanded "He was suppose to watch him!"

"I don't know, I came in here when I heard Fred call out for help saying Toad was going nuts. By the time I managed to get the door open he attacked me and then crashed through the window" he explained pointing to a shattered window.

"Okay so where did Fred go? That window is too small for him" Pietro asked "And more to the point how the hell did Toad attack Beast?"

"I'm more concerned of where Fred is" Lance said when a pile of slime shuddered behind him, he spun around and saw the tip of a massive familiar trainer.

"Fred!" he cried and began to dig him out, he uncovered Fred's face and he gave a moan. "Come on buddy speak to me"

"uhh…Toad" he mumbled.

Fred sat there recovering as Hank did a test on the sample of slime, he looked up at the computer screen.

"Amazing" Xaviar declared "This substance has paralyzing propetires"

"ugh! Tell me something I don't already know!" Fred exclaimed "My head is still spinning"

"Okay how about this, how the hell did a guy we all assume was dying attacked Beast and bring down Blob!" Scott demanded.

"the last thing I remember is waking up to see Toad going nuts, he was acting like his head was about to explode or something the way he kept grabbing his head like that" Fred explained "Then he leapt up knocked me to the ground and slimed me to the wall"

"yes but there is no way Toad can produce this much slime like this as he does" Xaviar mused and Fred shook his head.

"Nah he wasn't spewing it, it was coming out of his hands!"

"Okay can someone say like 'eeeuw!'" Kitty shuddered "And I thought he was gross before"

"oh this is bad" Hank said "The blood test just finished, it isn't good"

"What!" Pietro cried "what the hell is wrong with him!"

"Well we all know Toad's body isn't that of your average person, his mutation has allowed his body to take on ambihibian qualities" Hank began.

"Thank you Mr Obvious" Pietro exclaimed "that's why we call him TOAD!"

"Yes but it also means his body produces chemicals different to us, when he drank the Power8 the chemicals in it that are dangerous to mutants haven't damaged him they're accelerating his mutation far quicker than he can handle" Hank explained.

"So he isn't dying he's just becoming more powerful?" Lance asked "Why is that Bad news?"

"nah he means it's bad news for the X-men not us" Pietro explained.

"Uh no that's not what I meant" Hank declared "You remember what happened when Jean's powers had a growth spurt"

"Oh yeah the freaking out and warping of the manison" Kurt said.

"Since Toad's powers are of an animal nature he's proably gone feral to deal with his mutation" Xaviar declared "He's proably run off to the nearest place that seems safe for him"

"Local woods" Lance declared "That's where he always go when he has a tantrum"

"Okay people let's suit up, we get Toad and bring him back here" Scott declared "We don't want him attacking any innocents"

"Err Excuse me!" Lance shouted "This is our friend mate we're talking about!"

"Which is why we need to bring him back here so we can help him" Xaviar declared "we can use the serum we created to help with Evan's mutation but to do that…" he stopped "We'd have to inject him with it"

"Great!" Lance groaned "Toad's gone nuts and you want us to approach him with the one thing he hates mosts, oh I bet he'll love us"

"That's why he have to restrain him, come on" Jean declared.

"Dude have you seen Toad when he's on a suger high or something! He's like a crazed boucing ball there's no way we can catch him!" Pietro cried.

"I thought you were 'the fastest mutant' out?" Wolverine smirked.

"Yeah on the ground! Toad sticks to the trees and high up and he hops around so fast not even I can keep up with him!" Pietro exclaimed "He's like this Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!" he added flicking his finger around in random directions to show what he going on about.

"Well we won't catch him here" Beast declared "I'll bring the antidote"

They came to the woods, they were dark and murker and only little trickles of light managed to pentrate the gloom of the trees. Cyclops, Jean, Shadowcat, NightCrawler, Beast and Wolverine was accompanying Quicksilver and Avalanche.

"Do you have any idea how to get Toad to stand still?" Quicksilver whispered.

"Not a clue, normally it's Fred that calms him down not me!" Avalanche muttered back "He never said how he did it"

"Would have been good if he came then wouldn't it?"

"Fred could barely stand how the hell was he gonna keep up let alone catch him?" Avalanche growled.

They walked deeper and deeper into the wood until Kitty tripped and went face first into a puddle, she looked up to see she was covered in slime.

"Eeew…eeeww…EEEWWW!" she shrieked.

"Whoa…if you think that's gross Kitty check this out" Scott muttered they all looked to see the surrounding area was laced and covered with slime, all the trees were webbed together with it.

"Okay Beast you're the supposive expert, care to explain this?" Lance demanded.

"Some animals do mark their terriotory, but this is first time I've heard ambihibians doing it" Beast muttered, Wolverine sniffed the air and growled.

"He's here somewhere"

"Err…if this is his territory…and we're invading it, then won't he attack?" Kurt mumbled, suddenly a loud angry hiss echoed through the shadows.

"That'll be a yeah!" Scott yelped he clicked his visor and sent out a bolt of red energy, a branch fell down smouldering and they froze as they glanced around trying to see where their attacker was coming from. Toad leapt down and kicked Cyclops away into a tree and with two hands full, slimed him to a tree.

"Oh gross he likes gets grosser by the second!" Kitty declared.

"Scott!" Jean cried and tried to grab a hold of Toad but he bounced away and slimed her in the face and then kicked her into the tree. Wolverine growled and leapt forward but once again Toad leapt away and into the trees, Wolverine slashed the tree and knocked it down but Toad had already hopped to the next tree.

"Splut!" Wolverine fell to the floor when a slimeball smacked him hard in the chest, he tried to get up but Toad kept barraging him until he was smothered.

"Toad just took down Logan!" Lance cried out.

"If he was conscious of this he would be loving it!" Pietro laughed suddenly Kitty and Beast cried out as they were attacked and slimed, Kurt looked around nervously only to be attacked and knocked out before he could teleport to safety. Toad landed in front of Avalanche and Quicksilver hissing menacingly.

"Okay Toad remember us? We're your buddies!" Lance said carefully "You don't want to attack your buddies right?"

Toad hissed loudly and leapt forward Quicksilver picked up Lance and made a break for it, Toad threw a slimeball and it landed on Pietro legs.

They had gotten out of the woods before Pietro fell down, resulting in a mutant duo tangle. Pietro rubbed his legs manically.

"I can't feel my legs!" he screamed "he's paralyzed my legs!"

"Easy Pietro, just calmed down" Lance said and rubbed off the slime "I'll help you walk until the goo wears off.

"He took out the X-men…on his own! He didn't even break a sweat!" Pietro cried out as they staggered back to the jeep

"He did didn't he? He also took out Beast who had the antidote too" Lance muttered "Aww man what do we do now?"


	5. wherein Lance sings a Lullaby

**Chapter 5: wherein Lance sings a Lullaby**

"This is bad news" Professor muttered.

"Yeah dude we barely made it out" Lance said "And for the record we didn't know he could do that either"

"Yeah check us if you don't believe us!" Pietro said.

"I already did and you're telling the truth, Todd has indeed gone feral and now protects what he deems his territory" Xaviar muttered.

"Man how are we gonna get him cured? Beast has the antidote and when we tried to talk some sense into him he attacked us anyway" Lance exclaimed.

"Did ya try singing his lullaby?" Fred asked and Lance, Pietro and the Professor stared at him strangely.

"Toad has a lullaby?" Pietro demanded "For God's sake Blob he's fourteen!"

"Yeah but he likes it, it helps him go to sleep" Fred explained "We came up with it during a scary storm and it works every time now"

"Okay so we sing this lullaby and he falls asleep then we inject him with it" Lance muttered "This could work"

"I call dibs on not being the one to sing" Pietro cried quickly.

"We've heard you sing, I've heard better from roadkill cats!" Fred exclaimed.

"So here we go again, into this slimy wood to save our little pest of a friend" Pietro declared staring into the gloomy wood.

"Feel free to stay here" Lance muttered as he walked in.

"Oh no!" Pietro laughed "The only reason why I'm coming is to see you sing!"

They had gotten into the area where they were attacked and looked around, as they went deeper into the wood. They came to a cave and wandered in, inside the X-men were plastered to the wall.

"Okay…I've seen this movie" Lance muttered.

"Don't even go there!" Pietro shuddered "I'll dig Beast out you keep a look out for…HIM!"

At the entrance Toad crawled in and hissed angrily, Toad looked the same physically except his eyes were dark and red, he was crouched on all fours and acted more like an animals now. He snapped out his tongue at Pietro, he barely dodged it.

"Todd…listen we want to help you" Lance began as they circled Toad just hissed again; Lance swallowed and severely wished he didn't have to do what he did next.

"Five little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs…" he sang, Toad stopped and cocked his head to one side. "…one jump into the pool where it was nice and cool, then there were only four little frogs…"

"Keep going he loves it!" Pietro whispered as he dug deeper into the slime.

"Not a comfort!" Lance growled Toad hissed softly.

"Keep going!"

"Four little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum yum! One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool, then there were only three little frogs…" Toad sat down and watched. "Three little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum yum…" he stopped and glanced at Pietro.

"Will you hurry up I'm running out of frogs!"

"You should have picked a higher number!" Pietro whispered back "Which pocket did Beast put it in?"

"Left" Lance hissed back and Toad hissed as well "One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool then there were two little frogs glub glub!" Lance carried on. Toad got more comfortable and Lance crept closer.

"Two little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum…yum" Lance sang and Toad flopped down as if going to sleep.

"Don't forget what Fred said!" Pietro murmured, Lance looked at him and held up the tattered old plush frog as if to say 'way ahead of you'.

"Ahah! Got it!"

"Good past it to me nice and slow and make sure he can't see it!" Lance whispered "One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool then there only one little frog glub glub!" Lance sang as he handed Toad the frog who was now curled up and watching, Pietro palmed the syringe to Lance as he sat down next to Toad.

"One little speckled frog sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum…yum!" he took off the lid and Toad shifted as if to warn Lance off but Lance stroked Toad's hair and he calmed down again "One jump into the pool…" he injected it into Toad's arm who shrieked and try to get away but Lance grabbed him and held on.

"Where it was nice and cool, then there no more little frogs glub glub!" he sang softly and Toad fell asleep, he snuggled up to Lance and sighed happily.

"Right…" Lance mumbled "Okay let go…" he said and laid Toad down onto a pile of leaves. "Guess all we have to do now is dig the others out"

As he strode over to get Kitty out he glanced to Pietro who was grinning like an idiot.

"Hey remember the deal! What happens in the cave stays in the cave!" he growled.

"Aww but that was so cute!" Pietro giggled "Five little speckled frogs…" he began to sing happily.

"Shut it…" Lance growled

"Sat on a speckled log…"

"Pietro…I'm warning you!"

"Eating the most delicious bugs"

"Pietro I swear if you carry on I'm gonna kill you!"

Pietro stopped singing and they got back to digging out the others.

Pietro started to hum and waving his fingers as if to orchestrate it.

"SHUT UP PIETRO!" Lance roared and the cave began to rumbled and little rocks fell from the roof.

"Okay okay no need to yell!"

3


	6. waking from a nightmare

**Chapter 6: Awaking From a Nightmare**

Toad didn't know what had happened it had all felt like some horrible nightmare, he had woken up that morning with a thumping headache that only seem to get worse and worse until it had felt like something was trying to claw itself out of his skull. He could see Fred trying to help but it like he wasn't there he couldn't hear what Fred was saying or feel him as he try to hold Toad down and get help.

Suddenly something came from deep within it made the pain fade away, it was still there but it didn't matter to him, he looked up to see some hulking monster holding him down. He was in a strange room with horrible bright lights that hurt his eyes.

One idea: escape!

Toad had kicked the monster away and leapt around trying to find a way out, the monster grabbed him again yelling something but Toad couldn't understand what he was saying. He attacked again in a blind rage, the Toad didn't like being cooped up like he didn't like that creature that was holding him down and he didn't like being attacked!

He tackled down the monster and stuck his hands on it's chest, slime seem to seep out and he began to slaver it on like a spider would spin a web around it's prey. He leapt away and began to slime out the lights and everything, suddenly he heard a big blue creature come in and Toad tackle him down and then leapt through the window.

All he knew was he had to get away from there and find a safe place, somewhere dark, warm and wet. He found a wood that he knew and hopped through it.

It was nice…but it didn't have that feel to it that The Toad was looking for, he looked at his hands and squeezed them shut. He felt the slime begin to seep from his fingers, he then got to work. Weaving the slime and splattering it all over the trees coating everything it he stopped and it felt like home.

Only now…he was hungry, he looked up as a bird fluttered to a tree where its nest was once, he snapped out his tongue…

And a few fluttering feather was all that remained a second later.

The Toad licked his lips and then settled down in a tree, suddenly just as he was enjoying a little nap the trees began to rustle and move. A group of weird humans came in and suddenly the Toad was scared but that was quickly washed away by anger.

He snarled and leapt capturing the intruders that would violate his world, sliming them to the walls and he would prowl around as they were dragged into unconsciousness. Maybe he would eat them later when they had rotted enough to fall apart easier, fresh meat was too hard to chew.

And then…two more? He wondered and he leapt out of the cave and watched as they two who escaped before came back, he hissed happily at the idea of having more for his pantry.

He landed at the cave entrance and hissed angrily as he saw them rip away and free his meals, he was about to leap when he heard a soft voice sing. It was comforting and familiar reminding him how that even when things were really scary when he heard that song everything was better. He smiled and sat down and listened and softly drifted off to sleep, the person gave him a soft toy that made him feel warm and safe. He felt a shape pain in his neck but that quickly subsided when he feel asleep.

Todd woke up and looked up and found himself in the medical bay at the institute once more, he saw Pietro, Lance and Fred look at him.

"Wha ya looking at yo?" he demanded he then shrieked and leapt up "Man I haven't turned into some kinda frog-thing have I?" he cried and patted himself down to note everything was where it should be, he froze and looked at his hands.

They were normal again…well for him anyway!!

"Yeah we kinda liked you better as a wild frog freak but you wouldn't learn how to sit or fetch the newspaper so we changed you back" Pietro smiled and Fred pushed him out of the way.

"How ya feel buddy?"

"Weird, confused and hungry!" he said putting his hand over his stomach.

"Dude why couldn't you stayed that way? You know with a bit more control!" Pietro asked.

"Huh?"

"You totally pasted the X-men when you were all frog boy!" Lance laughed "Even Logan"

"I took out Wolverine?!" Toad yelped.

"Yeah you should have seen his face when we dug him out and he came to, he threatened us never to tell anyone he got beat by you or he'd kill us!" Pietro declared, just then Hank came in.

"Well after a three day sleep Toad you seem to be fine, any mutation you develop from the Power8 has seem to have gone" he said

"Whoa…hold the phone…three days? I've been asleep for three whole days?" Toad cried

"Well more like three days and a half" Hank amended "You can go home if you like and make sure to call if you feel you are having a relaspe"

"Sure thing yo" Toad said kicking off the blanket "Be seeing ya"

As they walked to the Jeep Lance looked at Todd who hopped along side him.

"So you don't remember much?" he asked.

"Nah man it was all a blur" Todd exclaimed "I remember some freaky things like me eating a bird and stuff, but what stuck in my head the most was someone singing to me" he then stopped and looked at Lance "And it sounded like you!"

Pietro and Fred covered their smirks and tried not to giggle as Lance went red in the face.

"Err…yeah" he mumbled and then he weezed as Todd gave him a tackle/hug around the chest, Lance went even redder but Todd let go.

"Thank Lance" he smiled as he hopped into the Jeep "Man I feel like we're all a happy family"

"Yeah" Pietro smiled "Fred is the mom Lance is the dad, Toad's the annoying kid and…"

"You're the bloody annoying uncle who won't shut up!" Lance growled as they drove off.

"you know…" Fred said "beside the whole me being the mom that sounds nice, maybe we could make a sitcom of it!"

"And Lance could sing the theme song! All together now!" Pietro shouted "Five little speckled frogs…GUK!" as Pietro was kicked out of the moving car "hey wait up!"

**Epilogue**

Toad sat in his tree watching as Pietro was still giggling and singing 'five little speckled frogs' to annoy Lance, Fred was lying under the tree branch where Toad was sitting.

"Y'know" Fred muttered "It would have been totally cool if you could spit acid, could come in handy!"

"Yeah…" Toad mused "But the blue furball said that I was back to lil' weak old me"

"Oh well easy come easy go" Fred declared and got up "I wonder what's for lunch?"

Toad sat there for a little while longer before he hopped down he stared at a gnome that had somehow found its way to sit in their garden it was probably one of those random things Pietro stole from time to time he put his hand over his stomach and then spat out a bright green slime, it landed on the gnome and began to drip slowly in a disgusting manner. Besides that nothing else seem to have happened, Toad sighed and walked back to the house…

He stopped when he heard a slurping creek and Toad spun around to see a bright red and white steaming puddle where the gnome once resided, all that was left was a melted lump of pottery.

"Cool!" Toad cooed and poked it.

"Hey Toad we're gonna have take-out what do you want?" Fred called, Toad being small minded completely forgot about the gnome and rushed back to the house.

"Make mine noodles!" he cried happily.

"What were you doing out there?" Fred asked.

"Oh nothing much" Toad laughed.

The End

3


End file.
